AP Human Definitions (All units)

Use to study to pass AP exam

Reference Map

Shows boundaries,names, geographic areas, and cultural and physical features.

Thematic Map

Shows a theme or special topics data in relation to geographic areas.

Cartogram Map

Type of thematic map that distorts area to represent data values, the greater the value being measured the greater the land area and vice versa

Choropleth Map

This map uses colors and shading to show values, the darker shaded or colored the more the value and vice versa.

Dot Map

Uses dots to show value, more dots mean greater the value

Graduated Symbol Map

This map uses a specific symbol to show values, bigger the symbol is bigger the value

Isoline Map

This map uses lines to link places that share a common value

Absolute

Exact location of a place, this can use coordinates, directions, and exact units of measurements

Realative

Comparing a place to another place as a form of direction

Uniform

Evenly spaced

Linear

Spaced in a line

Clustered/Clumped

Grouped together

Dispersed/Scattered

Distributed over a wide area

Agglomeration

Grouped together purposely

Random

No specific pattern

Robinson Projection

Benefits: shows accurate shapes and sizes

Purpose: Commonly used in schools and atlases

Limitations: Extreme distortion at poles, imprecise measurements

Mercator Projection

Benefits: Shows true direction, good for navigation

Purpose: Best for nautical use

Limitations: Areas get larger with latitude, size gets distorted in the poles

Gall-Peters Projection

Benefits: Shows true direction, land size is preserved

Purpose: Used for navigation and world maps

Limitations: Continents and oceans are elongated

Polar Projections (Azimuthal)

Benefits: Shown from north pole, preserves direction

Purpose: Used for air navigation

Limitations: Distorts shape and area, only shows ½ of the earth

Geographic Information Systems (GIS)

Helps visualize and organize spatial patterns and relationships

Helps governments and businesses find positive and negative characteristics of areas

Remote Sensing Systems

Helps collect information over large areas of land,

Helps monitor areas of the world that are hard to explore

Informs people with fast and accurate information.

Satellite Navigation System

Helps provide a map on your phone to a location

Makes it easier for drivers to find the most optimal pathway to a destination

Spatial Information Observations

Ex. Personal Interviews, Field Observations, Policy Documents, Photographic Interpretation,

Media Reports,Travel Narratives

Census Data

Information collected by a government agency about a nation's population and economy, including demographic (age, race, gender), social, and economic characteristics.

Remote Sensing

The science of obtaining information about the Earth's surface, objects, or atmosphere from a distance, typically using sensors on aircraft or satellites

Place

Location on Earth distinguished by its physical/human characteristics

Site

A place’s absolute location and surroundings (landforms,climate,resources)

Situation

How one place interacts with other places ( Connections, cultural ties, access to surroundings)

Distance Decay (Theory)

The further places are from each other the less the interaction

Time - space compression (Theory)

Space between places seem smaller as technology and communication improves

Environmental Determinism

The environment determines characteristics of human society and success of their population (Where you live controls how you live)

Possibilism

With people anything is possible, human societies are influenced by their natural environment, but not controlled by it. (Nature decides settings but humans decide what to do with it)

Large Scale Map

shows a small area in great detail, ex. local and national scale map

Small scale

shows large area of land in less detail, ex. regional and global maps

Scale of analysis

the level at which the data is displayed

Formal (Uniform) Regions

grouped by common attribute

Functional (Node) Regions

grouped around a central point or node ex. New York or Local Pizza Place

Vernacular (Perceptual) Regions

Grouped by feels or attitude towards the area of land

Major population clusters

1. East Asia

2. South Asia

3. Southeast Asia

4. Nigeria

5. Europe

6. Northeastern United States

Arithmetic Density

Number of people living in given unit of land (Total population divided by total land area)

Agricultural Density

Number of farmers per unit of arable land, will be lower where there is more commercial farming

Physiological Density

Number of people per unit of arable land (Total population divided by total arable land)

Carrying capacity

the maximum population size an environment can sustainably support over the long term without degrading its resources

Thomas Malthus Theory

Population grows faster than food supply which could result in famine, disease, and etc.

Population Pyramid

A graph that shows the age-gender distribution of a given population, which helps indicate whether the population is growing rapidly, slowly, or in decline.

Fertility

Measured using Crude Birth Rate (CBD) - number of births per year per 1000 people

Mortality

Measured using Crude Death Rate (CDR) the number of deaths per year per 1000 people

Migration

Movement of people from one area to another

Birth

Total Fertility Rate (TFR) - number of children a woman will have in her lifetime

Death

Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) - number of deaths of children under the age of 1 per 1000 people

Immigration

Movement of people into an area

Emigration

Movement of people out of an area

Doubling Time (DT)

the amount of time it would take to double the population

Rate of Natural Increase (RNI)

percent of natural population growth in an area (Birth and Death), high RNI means rapid growth

Life Expectancy

the average number of years a person is expected to live

Neo Malthusians

Similar to Thomas Malthus theory but modernized to fit times today, instead of worrying about food now were worried about all resources being used too fast

Ester Boserup

As population grows there would be more technologies to be able to produce food, argument to rival Thomas Malthus theory that food will be sustained

Cornucopian Theory

Humans can innovate ways to expand the food supply

Anti - Natalist policies

When a country’s TFR is too high so people are discouraged from having children

Pro - Natalist policies

When a country’s TFR is too low that they encourage more children

Immigration Policies

government policies that can determine if people can migrate into their country or not, this can balance out a negative RNI

Dependency Ratio

The number of people in the new population age group (under 15 and or older than 64) is divided by the # of people between 15 and 64 ( working population)

Aging Population

Number of elderly people present in a country, region, city, etc.

Push Factor

A factor that makes someone want to leave

Pull Factor

A factor that makes someone want to live somewhere

Intervening Opportunity

POSITIVE factor that compels a person to choose one place over another

Intervening Obstacle

NEGATIVE factor that stops a person’s migration process

Forced/ Involuntary Migration

When someone is forced to leave a place because of negative situations

Refugee

granted refugee status before they enter a country

Asylum Seeker

enters a country then tries to establish refugee status

Internally Displaced Person (IDP’s)

when someone flees their home due to safety but flee within the country

Voluntary Migration

When people leave because they can find more success somewhere else

Transhumance

Moving with a herd or livestock as a nomad with the seasons

Chain Migration

Migrating to follow family or friends

Step Migration

small steps to the nearby places instead of long distance to get to their destination

Guest workers

People granted permission to work temporarily in another country

Internal Migration

Moving within the same country

Transnational Migration

Moving to a new country but still maintaining ties to your former country

Skill Gap

Shortages of people trained in a particular industry

Remittances

Money aboard emigrants send back to their countries

Brain Drain

Loss of trained or educated people due to emigration

Unauthorized Immigrants

People who come into or stay in a country illegally

Cultural Relativism

Judging a culture based on its own beliefs and values, not yours

Ethnocentrism

Judging other cultures based on your own culture’s standards

Sequent Occupance

The marks people leave on a place over time

Ethnic Communities

A group of people in a place who share the same ethnicity, culture, language, or traditions outside their area of origin

Indigenous Communities

Groups of people who lived in a place first, before outside settlers or colonization, some getting more independence while others are being pushed off their land

Religious and Linguistic Characteristics

places of worship, religious clothing,religious symbols, cultural items

Sense of Place

Personal attachments people have to a specific geographic location

Ex. Dialects, places of worship and architecture, sacred sites, Ethnic neighborhoods

Placemaking

creating a place where people want to work, live & play in.

ex. one common language, places of worship for all, accepting all religious and cultural values, culturally diverse

Centripetal Force

Like a pull factor, people would want to live here since they're similar and connected (homozygous)

Centrifugal Force

Like a push factor, some people wouldn’t want to live here because they can’t find a place of belonging since it’s too different and diverse (heterozygous)

Global Cultural Groups

cultural groups interactions with their environments

Expansion Diffusion

Results in increasing change of numbers, all spread of diffusion but relocation

Hierarchical Diffusion

Spread from the top to the bottom

Reverse Hierarchical Diffusion

Spread from the bottom to the top

Contagious Diffusion

Speads randomly based off clossness

Stimulus Diffusion

Spread of ideas that can change based on the culture of that area, ex. in India they don't eat cows so instead of a hamburger the main promoter can me a chicken sandwich

Relocation Diffusion

A cultural idea spreads when people physically carry it from one place to another

Imperialism

When a strong country dominates weaker societies for power, land, or resources